Have a look at the following adverts. One asks specifically for Polish drivers, and the other two are written in what looks like Polish.
Surely that can’t be legal - excluding British drivers from job vacancies in Britain. When you look at the fuss made over the strikes this last week or so, surely this is the same thing. And it’s nothing to do with being racist, before that gets mentioned.
Cannot see how this can be legal under ‘Equal Opportunities Legislation’ ? I do know that certain jobs can be exempt under ‘■■■ Discrimination Rules’ or stipulate that applicants must be fluent in a specific language but to say applicants have to be of a specific ‘race’ is definitely out of order.
I think we should all respond to them asking why we have to be ‘Polish’ and then threaten to sue them for race discrimination if they cannot provide a legal reason for their downright racial profiling.
This is the sort of thing that only divides people and causes trouble for everyone.
Regards
Dave Penn;
AIUI the way it’s worded seem to make it illegal as they are specifying Poles, however if they changed it to “need an ability to speak Polish” then they’d be legal.
delboytwo:
if you have a go look at the adds you will see that there very old
Job Benefits: Ongoing work into 2008. Lots of overtime available.
Job Benefits: lots of overtime - work intil 2008
and prabably asked for then as there my have been a shortage than of hgv 1 drivers
If that was the case, then surely they’d have more applicants if they opened it up to everybody.
this is why there advertiving the add are from 2007
Job Description: We Are Turning Away Work. category C+E Licence is essential, you will have held your entitlement for a minimum of two years, have no more than six penalty points for minor offences and no DR convictions. You will be well presented, courteous and reliable. A digital tacho card is desirable but not essential. Duties: Will include the delivery of FMCG for a well known high street food retailer. Wage: From £9.50 per hour, minimum 8 hours with Overtime paid thereafter. This is a long term contract and temp to perm opportunities do exist. Call Stuart McCabe at the Luton Branch or apply online Job Requirements: no dr or dd related convictions. Good command of english language. min have 2 years experience C+E license. Job Benefits: Ongoing work with opportunity for overtime as well. £high earnings our top driver earns in exccess of £750.00 per working week.l Polish / Eastern European drivers with relavant experiences and skill set most welcome. Call Stuart McCabe
It doesn’t really matter if the original advert was put up in 2007, if it is still visible and accessible in it’s original format then it is discriminatory on the grounds of specifying a particular racial group. The further information given by ‘delboytwo’ doesn’t disallow the original request for ‘Polish’ drivers.
Regards
Dave Penn;
mrpj:
AIUI the way it’s worded seem to make it illegal as they are specifying Poles, however if they changed it to “need an ability to speak Polish” then they’d be legal.
That ‘appears’ to be the concensus of opinion. About two years ago the JobCentre advertised a HGV driving job in Ellsmere Port, applicants need to be able to speak Polish. I queried this with them and they assured me it had gone through their vetting procedure and was fine. Mind you, job advertisments from Agencys that do not have an actual job seem to get through their vetting procedure so i couldn’t say how good it is.
l Polish / Eastern European drivers with relavant experiences and skill set most welcome. Call Stuart McCabe
This is obviously the important bit and it seems to me to be perfectly legal. Its not blatantly stating that only Polish drivers need apply. It could be seen as merely an invitation for foreign drivers to apply. Its not actually excluding anyone although its very obvious who the agency would prefer!!
I doubt even in 2007 they were turning away work either…just grabbing drivers to stick on their books.
It looks like the ad has been changed. The website is down at the moment.
The original ad read as this:
Job Description: Polish LGV license holders with a C+E license are required for
contracts in Hertfordshire ongoing. Maximum 6 points on your license. Must have
held your license for one year. Must Have an english license. You must speak
English really well. In return we offer you long contracts pay rates from £9.50
per hour to £10.00 per hour. If you are smart, courteous, flexible with your
own transport and hold a C+E license and have good communication skills. please
call Stuart McCabe today on 01582 732031.
The original advert is classed as Direct Discrimination in that it quite clearly is asking for Polish Drivers.Punishment for this type of offence is uncapped. If the company dealing with the agency had asked for Polish drivers then that is an offence also.
And before anyone chimes in with the racist / zenophobia card…the Race Relations Act 1976 is there for EVERYONE to have a fair crack of the whip.
Breaker One-Nine:
It looks like the ad has been changed. The website is down at the moment.
The original ad read as this:
Job Description: Polish LGV license holders with a C+E license are required for
contracts in Hertfordshire ongoing. Maximum 6 points on your license. Must have
held your license for one year. Must Have an english license. You must speak
English really well. In return we offer you long contracts pay rates from £9.50
per hour to £10.00 per hour. If you are smart, courteous, flexible with your
own transport and hold a C+E license and have good communication skills. please
call Stuart McCabe today on 01582 732031.
The original wording is discriminatory.
This is the ad that I also read on their website so if it is down then maybe they are doing something about the wording or removing it altogether.
As ‘delboytwo’ pointed out these ad’s seem to be out of date but the crux of the matter is that they where still visible on their website yesterday. In the recent past I’ve been involved in drafting job adverts and to satisfy the needs of ‘equal opps;’ ‘■■■ discrimination’ disability discr;’ et al; I would contact the local ‘Equal Opportunities Commission’ office and run through the wording so as not to be in breach of any regulations.
It is important not to read your own interpretation into any published job advertisement because that seems to be what a few people are doing, the way this ad is worded is ‘discriminatory’ by the very fact that it uses’ the phrase ‘Polish LGV license’ holders, just as it would be if it had said ‘English LGV license’ holders.
I emailed this agency and have asked for an explanation of what exemption from ‘Equal Opportunities Regulations’ they have been given to be allowed to use racial profiling in this job advert. At the moment I have not had a response but if the site is down then maybe it’s being removed right now.
Regards
Dave Penn;
delboytwo:
the jobs have now being removed from there website
Interesting!! How I wonder does that stand in law…They had the Discriminatory advert on there after all■■? Can you simply remove an illegal advert with no consequences■■?
I wonder what they thought when they checked their emails and found the ones from us pointing out their error? I bet they thought they were gonna be next in line for strikes.
It had the desired effect on them anyway, their site was down for a good few hours and when it come back up, they had removed a couple of the Polish adverts, but they’ve left a few others on there that are written in Polish.
